Daughter of the Mask
by Citywriter84
Summary: Jack had an encounter with a strange lady with magical powers a long time ago. She wore a weird bright skull mask and they became intimately acquainted, but then he never saw her again. Years later he is approached by a girl who claims to be his daughter and who demands to hear of these events as he experienced them. How will he confront the past and where is the Mask now?
1. Chapter 1

**Generations**

The sky was leaden and overcast as Jack waited for the bus that evening. A group of girls standing nearby were conversing with one another at the tops of their voices. Jack became aware that one of them was shooting him burning looks. He knew not to make eye contact. It was not the done thing for a man to stare at a strange girl. Strange as in a stranger and acting strangely. On the bus he tried to stare blankly out of the window, but he could not avoid her burning stare out of the corner of his eye. She was a beautiful girl he supposed, with smooth, pale skin and long auburn hair, but she had a strangely angular profile with a very prominent chin… like his own, even though she was a girl and he supposed a prominent chin was quintessentially a masculine thing.

Back in his flat, he reflected again on how empty and monotonous his life seemed. A boring, dead end job and no girlfriend or family. And yet he still remembered a strange encounter he had had as a boy. But it was so strange. How to describe it? He still remembered the lady who had deflowered him. How could he forget her? With her round, bald bright green head, thick rubbery features and weird grin… She had said she was his good fairy. But there was not getting around the fact that she had seduced him and he was a mere boy then. What she had done would not have been legal for a human lady. What had she been? She couldn't really have been supernatural. Rather, she must have been on some kind of drug to behave so strangely and move so fast and she was wearing a strange mask… or had shaved her head and applied strange prosthetic makeup. As he slept, he dreamed about her again…

The next evening, he decided to have tea in a café. The tea in the café wasn't great, but at least it was warm. Suddenly he became aware of the strange girl from the bus sitting at a nearby table. She was staring at him again. There was another girl with her who was gazing at her anxiously. Jack tried to interest himself in his baked potato, but he couldn't help seeing her. The lamplight shone off her freckled nose and cheeks and glinted off her auburn hair. She had a long pale face, but she was definitely beautiful when viewed full on. However, her profile was strange and angular, sort of like a pale crescent moon cartoon face. She really must look strikingly like him. He didn't wait to find out what her problem was though, he decided to leave.

"Excuse me, sir," said the girl getting to her feet and striding to block his way to the door. He couldn't get to the door without pushing her out of the way. Well this was awkward… "Just walk with me down the street, OK?" she murmured out of the corner of her mouth. Oh well, if she did turn out to be a maniac, then at least she didn't look very strong. She was tall, but of a slender build. Her friend got nervously to her feet and trailed after them. They strode down the pavement. From side on, the girl's profile really was jagged. Her nose seemed like a beak and her chin jutted out. "Now that we're out of there…" she said. She had a pleasant, quite refined sounding voice really, but it was a bit strange and she had a slight difficulty making rounded vowels. Sort of like his voice would have been before it broke. "I owe you an explanation, Jack," she said. So she knew his name. She had been stalking him.

"Lottie," said her friend with a tone of warning in her voice, struggling to keep up on her shorter legs. OK, so now he knew her name as well. Lottie.

"I'm set on this, Anne," said Lottie tersely. She turned to face Jack. Her eyes were a pretty shade of light hazel. Actually like his were… "Jack," said Lottie. "I know you are my dad." His heart leapt. What was this about? Was she mad?

"I don't think he can be the one, he looks so young," said Anne. "Is he really over thirty?"

"That's the point," said Lottie. "Too young and not ready to be a father, remember?" She addressed Jack again. "We have to talk," she said, "I think in a pub where it's noisy anyway." She pointed sideways at one.

Well Jack knew that he had been seduced when he was just a boy. Could this strange girl have really come about from that coupling? He couldn't bear not knowing.

He followed her into the Duke Tavern and they sat down at a small wooden table. The smokey air was filled with such hubbub anyway. Noone would hear them.

"Now I must be the one to explain first," said Lottie. "Jack, my mother says that you and she got together when you were too young and that she was wrong to do it and that she was not herself at the time. I know you look too young to be a father to a girl as old as me. She said you didn't recognise her, because she wore a strange green mask." Jack gave a start. "That means something to you then," said Lottie, eyeing him shrewdly, "well I have a right to know where I come from."

"Your mother told you she wore a strange green mask…?" Repeated Jack, dazedly.

"Yes," said Lottie, "she said she wanted a child, but that you were not ready to be a father. But I nagged at her until I got an answer as to who you were. She is Nicole… your old art teacher."

Jack shook his head, trying to clear it. Nicole? His art teacher? She had been a really nice lady. Pretty too. He remembered… she had long, glossy honey blond hair, smooth skin, applied makeup so well. She had been young. Only twenty three, he knew that. She had always been kind to him. She never gave off the impression that she wanted anything sexual from him.

Lottie was looking at him anxiously. "Jack… please tell me… what happened? I need to hear your side of the story."

So this was it. If she was indeed his daughter, Jack must tell her how he had done it with the lady in the Mask.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Trip Down Memory Lane**

Jack told the story of the she-mask as he remembered it.

Nicole had been his art teacher when he was fourteen.

One afternoon the art class had been unruly and Nicole was struggling. At the end she was really flustered. "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, your attitude will change," she said frantically, pushing her long wavy blond hair out of her face. "I am your teacher…"

"Just an art teacher," said a boy, impudently.

"Chuck him out," said a second boy in a gruff voice.

"That's enough. Class dismissed," said Nicole throwing up her arms.

Jack hung back. Nicole's violet blue eyes were bright with tears. He had wanted to do something to impress her, but the other boys had done all they could to wind her up.

"Are you OK?" he asked. He wasn't a Joe Soap type character who could masterfully comfort the ladies, but he knew he ought to try as best he could.

"Yes, thank you my dear," said Nicole sniffing and patting his arm. Her sparkling tears were causing her mascara to run. She was very pretty even though she was starting to cry. She had a cutely formed nose, smooth skin and quite a wide mouth, he thought. Her lips were painted the same bright red as her nails. She was a young woman, but her perky, firm breasts were of ample size already. He had fantasised about kissing her and more…

"The fellows are obnoxious," he said. "And that Sebastian Jones… he has the nerve to suggest you're not a teacher? He's so rude. He actually called me "chin boy" this morning because of my angular face."

"You are privileged to have such strong, handsome features. You are growing up into an exceptionally handsome young man," said Nicole earnestly. "I-" she shook her head as if to clear it and pushed her blond hair away from her face again.

"This American website I looked over said that students of our age – 'middle schoolers' they call them over there – are the sort who teachers are most afraid of. Is that correct?"

"The American website was right," said Nicole, "when the hormones first start kicking in, most children do get hard to handle. Older and younger students are better behaved. I really wanted to teach little ones, but inexperienced teachers have to prove themselves by doing a hard teaching job first." She sighed, "I shouldn't be burdening you with my worries, sweetie. In fact… I'm thinking you're too nice a boy for my class."

"Well…" Jack could take a compliment OK. They both sat down at separate seats at the teacher's desk.

"Tea, sweetie?" asked Nicole, "I've vending machine clearance." Soon she had prepared two cups of steaming tea and then she began to show him sketches she had made. "An American writer wrote about masks as a metaphor," she said, "the masks in these sketches symbolise different faces that are put on in different situations." She took a carved wooden mask from the desk drawer. It appeared to be carved from old, weathered wood, with prominent cheeks and an iron nose plate. "This carving represents dark desires," she explained. "I wanted to try to carve a replica myself." She turned the Mask over in her hands. "This carving is very old and could be valuable. It symbolises the Freudian Id – our dark subconscious."

"What we want really deep in our hearts?" said Jack.

Nicole smiled and nodded, her violet blue eyes sparkling. "Even if we can never say what it is."

Jack had wanted to give her a flower – an edelweiss which he had collected earlier. He gave it to her, stammering and blushing. She beamed and tied it in her hair. She did look cute with the flower in her long, wavy blond hair. The sun outside was setting lower in the sky. The rays of the setting sun gleamed off her lustrous hair.

"I really ought to walk you home, dear," said Nicole.

"Oh I was going to use the library," said Jack. "But thank you all the same."

"See you soon," said Nicole, smiling, her eyes sparkling.

When Jack was finished in the library, the librarian had already left and the lights had dimmed. As he strode down the empty corridor, there was a whoosh and to his amazement, a whirlwind came tearing down the dark corridor to meet him. What could this mean? He just stood there in astonishment. Suddenly the whirlwind came spinning to a halt before him. And there stood a very strange apparition indeed. A young woman, clad in leather. Very tight fitting leather that showed off all her curves. But that wasn't the strange thing. No, the strange thing was her big, round bright green head, completely bald, like it had been shaved and then fused with a thick green rubber of some kind. "Hallo…. Ssssmokin'" she breathed. Her voice was low and husky. It sounded breathy and seductive. He could see her features moving behind the thick green rubber to form a grin. She was grinning widely at him. She had dark green lips.

"Heyyyyy… handsome young man. Want to donate some seed?" asked the apparition. She patted her chest and to his astonishment, her chest expanded. Her breasts were growing before his eyes!

"Am – am I dreaming?" he stammered.

"It's a hot dream," she whispered, putting her arms round him, her firm breasts pushing into his chest. He began to feel aroused at her touch.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked. He decided to put his arms around her as well. The top of her smooth bald head brushed his cheek. Her scalp felt cool and silky.

"Help me feel alright, please?" she whispered in his ear, her warm breath tickling him. "You're a lovely boy who would want to help a lady. I know it. Please stay with me in there."

A door to their left swung open inwards. But that door always opened outwards. It was just a utility cupboard for caretaking supplies. But to his astonishment, Jack could see a candlelit room with a Jacuzzi and a round, pink bed that looked very soft.

"Please take a dip with me?" said the masked woman, looking him full in the face. What was familiar about her violet blue eyes? It was hard to read the expression of her freakishly altered face, but did she look anxious? Pleading? As though she could not bear for him to decline? He nodded.

They went into the Jacuzzi room that had magically appeared in the utility cupboard. She closed the door behind them and her leather outfit slipped to the ground, leaving her stark naked. Her curvaceous body was very pale and unblemished, a contrast with her strange, bright green head. He averted his eyes. She grinned and slipped into the pool where she was concealed with bubbles up to her neck.

"The water's lovely, you gorgeous thing," she said, beckoning him in. He undressed and slipped into the water. This was exciting. He thought this kind of thing only happened in dreams…

The Jacuzzi water was warm and the bubbles burst against him, arousing his sensitive manhood. She grinned. "I need your help," she said. Suddenly her voice was much more subdued. Serious. "I'm lonely and confused," she said. "Please, please comfort me. Please be generous with what you have." She moved in close. Her nose was a cute shape, coated as it was with strange green rubber.

"Kiss me…" she whispered and he kissed the cool, smooth tip of her nose. He could feel himself becoming aroused… "I am your good fairy," she whispered huskily, "let me love you with passion."

Did this strange woman really want him to do what he thought she wanted? He wondered what he should say. He noticed the bubbles on the surface seemed to have grown thicker, forming a milky white foam. "I have a mole on my stomach, though you can't see…" he said, feeling himself blush, not able to think of anything else to say.

"Awww you have a freckled nose and cheeks too. So cute," she said, leaning close. "I would want your dear face, whether or not I can get my own back."

That night they made sweet love and he felt like he really had found his love one. The mind of a teenage boy can be easily turned in the passion of the moment.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Mother and The Father**

The next day, Jack remembered his encounter to the last vivid detail. He would not forget such an introduction to manhood. Who was the mysterious masked lady? Would he see her again? His feelings were confused. He felt so passionate and yet so protective of her. Could they become an item somehow? Should they?

During midmorning break, Nicole approached him as he sat on the old wooden bench. She looked pale and anxious and appeared to have spent a sleepless night. "Jack, are you alright?" she asked, laying a hand on his arm and peering into his face, "I – I…" she opened and shut her ruby lips as if at a loss for words.

"Perfectly fine thanks, Miss," said Jack. He couldn't very well tell her of his steamy encounter of the previous night. She was gazing at him searchingly. He wondered why.

"If there is anything you need to tell me… anything you need to talk about, I am here," she said, biting her bottom lip.

"There is nothing, I've never felt better," said Jack with sincerity, "I feel like a new person. Not the person I was."

Nicole squirmed in her seat. "It might help you to talk about it some time," she said, her high voice quavering. "Even if something seems enchanting, it may not be good all the same." She pushed her blond hair away from her face, her eyes oddly bright. "Do you think you would like to go to the museum this Saturday or soon? As a free educational trip? I can ask your mum and dad too."

A day with Nicole appealed to him far more than the prospect of a day with any of the masters would have done. "Oh that would be nice," he agreed.

* * *

On Saturday they drove to the museum in Nicole's car. Nicole had explained that especially promising pupils could receive special educational trips as a reward.

"Dad was right. It is kind of you," he said.

"I'm not sure I do deserve such approval," she replied shaking her blond head. Jack could not think what that meant, so kept silent.

At the museum, Jack stared in awe at the iconic gem of the Victorian stuffed animal collection – a great stuffed walrus.

"But the 19th century taxidermists stuffed the hide too taut so that it doesn't have the natural creases a walrus should," said Nicole, "but I always loved the walrus. Ever since I was a little girl. I would definitely take any child of mine here as soon as they could walk."

The museum had an aquarium too, built on steps, a set of tanks on each level. At the top there was an axolotl tank. The lizard swam contently through the water in the tank, unaware that it was being watched.

"The axolotl can live out its entire life in this form," said Nicole, "but then if its water source dries up it becomes a salamander – a completely different creature adapted to a dry environment. This lizard could become something else entirely, but it has no idea…" her violet blue eyes were misty for a moment. She was lost in thought. "Ignorance is bliss little fellow," she said to the axolotl.

They looked through the puppet section next. There was an array of old Punch and Judy puppets in a glass cabinet.

"I liked Punch and Judy," said Jack who could remember a show once at a beach, "but I didn't know it was supposed to be so dark." He was looking at a collection of puppets and the placard underneath which told of a Punch and Judy story. In it, Punch threw the baby puppet out of the window and then beat Judy to death. The final puppet represented the ghost of Judy who haunted Punch in retribution.

"Comedy and Horror are similarly reactive modes of story telling I think," said Nicole.

Then they came to another cabinet. In it there was a puppet representing a beautiful girl who put on a strange mask and became another puppet. The caption underneath said that in her altered state she would become a witch, swooping down on young men in the night and having sexual intercourse with them, in this way taking their children and their future. The girl puppet had long golden hair, but with the mask on, she had a weirdly distorted green face.

Nicole suddenly turned white at the sight of the puppet and began gasping. Jack took her by the arm and they sat down on a bench. He put his arms around her and she buried her face in his chest.

"Is your girlfriend finding the puppets too frightening?" asked a curator who was walking past.

"Not my girlfriend," said Jack, patting Nicole's back. He was uneasy. She hadn't lost it like this in class even when the boys were winding her up. What could he do? She was the adult here.

"It's just a silly puppet," he whispered, stroking her hair and hoping that would comfort her, "and frankly, the Judy ghost puppet is more frightening. That one has a skull for a head and is dressed in a shroud. The witch puppet is actually strangely exciting." Thinking about the witch reminded him of his mysterious masked lover. He would never forget her. His manhood rose at her memory.

Nicole looked up. Her mascara was running and her tears had left black mascara tracts down her cheeks. Her carefully applied makeup had been smudged. Her violet blue eyes shone with tears in the dim light. "Dearest," she said sniffling, "if anything has happened that you feel you can't talk to me about, perhaps it could help to either write it down or to draw a picture of it. That could help get it out of your system."

* * *

In the weeks that followed, Nicole did seem to be looking out for Jack.

One day he tried to enter the canteen, but Seb Jones tripped him. Nicole was there in an instant.

"How dare you, Jones," she said fiercely, her violet blue eyes flashing, "don't smirk at me. I've a good mind to take you to Mr Crombie." Mr Crombie was the deputy head and in charge of discipline. Jones scowled and dropped his gaze. Jack and Nicole walked into lunch together and sat at the same table. As she ate she looked distinctly queasy.

"Oh dear, I don't think I can finish this," she said. She did look pale and sickly.

"Are you OK?" asked Jack.

"Fine, sweetie," said Nicole and clapped a hand to her mouth and ran out of the canteen, leaving her food untouched.

He took her advice and tried to draw images of how he remembered the she-mask. He showed her illustrations he had drawn of the she-mask one afternoon after art class.

"These are so evocative. You are talented," she said, gazing at him.

"I remember her anxious expression," said Jack, "she definitely…" he realised he had been about to talk about his encounter with the she-mask. He fell silent.

"You can tell me," said Nicole, gazing at him, "I would always take your word."

So he told her. Her violet blue eyes shone with tears when he had finished.

"Whoever the masked lady was, whatever her issues were, she should not have sought a relationship with someone who was still a teenager," said Nicole, pushing her blond hair away from her face, "she can't have been in her right mind to do something so wrong." She shifted in her seat. "I'm leaving at the end of the year," she said suddenly.

"Leaving?" said Jack. He didn't want Nicole to leave. But Nicole was suddenly retching and clapping her hands to her mouth. Jack quickly helped her to the ladies room. He could hear her vomiting noisily as he waited outside the door. She emerged, pale and clammy.

"I'm going to have a baby, dear," she said, "that's why I keep throwing up."

"Congratulations!" said Jack.

Nicole smiled ruefully. "I want a child, but these circumstances are strange. I haven't got a man in my life. I'll manage though."

As winter gave way Spring, Nicole's sickly phase passed and she seemed much happier. By the summer, her belly was swelling. At the midsummer day event she seemed to be glowing when they met for the last time. Her blond hair glinted in the sun. "Good to see you looking so well," she said, hugging him, "feel my baby bump." He could feel her baby kicking as she hugged him. And he still had no idea the baby was his.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Inheritance**

Jack gazed at his beautiful daughter. Those eyes, so like his own, gazed back.

"And despite all this it never occurred to you that I could possibly be yours?" said Lottie, her voice trembling a little. Jack hoped fervently that she wasn't going to burst into tears. He wished he knew how to comfort her. It felt so awkward… if he had taken part in her upbringing he could hug her but as it was they were virtual strangers. At that moment he felt a surge of resentment against Nicole. Why had she excluded him from their daughter's life? Of course that was obvious. It had been illegal for them to have a child together, whether or not she was masked. However much he might have wished it otherwise, they could not have been together as man and wife. And yet he felt that she should not have left his life like that taking his daughter away. Looking at her now the pieces had all fallen into place he felt a sense of pride in the woman she had become mixed with a terrible sadness that he had never been able to be there with her.

Tears shone in Lottie's hazel eyes. At that moment he wanted to connect with her more than anything. "You are my only child, Lottie. I haven't a wife or a girlfriend. You could live with me. We are family."

"I… I… yes… we've got to try," said Lottie, her bottom lip trembling. Sparkling tears trickled down her cheeks. Anne's eyes darted to Lottie and then to him.

"And your mum Lottie, you'll tell her…" said Anne.

Ah yes, there was that little snag. It would be so weird facing Nicole again. What could they do? Get married for Lottie's sake? A bit late for that. He pictured himself with Nicole in the Mask – that would have made for an interesting family photo…

"Oh yes, I've got to confront her about these secrets she's kept for so long," said Lottie, wiping the tears away from her cheeks, "Jack… Dad… can you come now? We can't delay. We've already lost so much time."

She was right. They left the pub. It was dark outside and the night air was cool. Lottie proudly slipped her arm in his.

Jack's heart was hammering at the thought of seeing Nicole again.

"Are you nervous, Dad?" asked Lottie. The light of a lamppost illuminated her long pale face and glinted off her auburn hair.

"Just a little," he admitted. "Nicole and I do go back a long way… that is, it's been so long…"

"She's quite approachable," chimed Anne.

"So approachable. But she kept us in the dark," said Lottie grimly. "We will have words." She gazed at him again and when she spoke her voice was soft once more. "We'll get the bus the rest of the way if you're nervous. I've got an adult oyster with me if you need one."

"I – I have my own, Lottie," he replied. He registered that she now spoke to him tenderly but what was the dynamic between them. Really they couldn't ever be like father and daughter. She seemed so mature for her age and he thought her concern was rather like that of an older sister.

"Well that's a stroke of luck," said Lottie as they approached a bus stop and the bus came into view.

On the bus Lottie held his hand. "I wish I had my youtube favourites playlist to calm me," he said abruptly. He tended to say what was on his mind without thinking how it might sound. He thought perhaps he had been alone too long. Oh well, he was proud of his playlist. "It's got all types of music from all different eras."

"I'm the same, I like all kinds of music," said Lottie.

"I think something that is cheesy and eerily soothing would calm me now, like Johnny Leyton."

Lottie giggled, "mum could say, 'Johnny… remember me,' in a ghostly wail."

"I see why you're so random, Lottie," said Anne cheerily, "runs in the family."

Lottie raised her eyebrows. "Anne, do you mind?"

Jack was beginning to feel more at ease. "Lately I've been listening to Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat."

Lottie smiled and began singing Any Dream Will Do.

Jack liked her voice. "I wish I could sing, but I never trusted my voice after it broke on me and then turned in to a bass."

Lottie laughed, her hazel eyes shining.

Jack felt very much at ease with his daughter now. "I do wonder what happened to Jacob to make him passive-stupid by that point in Genesis. He was really unaware of what the horrible brothers were up to? The part which stayed with me the most was how he loved Joseph so much that he would wake up and get to his feet when Joseph appeared. What must he have gone through when they were separated?"

Lottie knew what he was driving at although Anne looked baffled. Tears shone in her eyes again.

Eventually they reached their stop. Jack held his daughter's hand as they approached the house. Anne trotted a little way behind them. The street was in a nice area, a row of terraced houses with privet hedges. Nicole had done well for herself to live here, especially as she had become a single mother.

Jack's heart began to thud as they approached the green painted front door.

"Are you OK?" whispered Lottie.

Jack nodded, but his throat seemed to have seized up.

Lottie opened the front door.

"I'm home!" she called.

The lighting in the hall was soft and pleasant. The air smelled faintly fragrant. The front door included a stain glass pane through which the moonlight shone.

The sound of footfalls. Then Nicole was here. Jack's heart skipped.

She was clearly older, her glossy blond hair appeared to have been bleached, perhaps because it had started to go grey. She was carefully made up although her skin was not quite as lustrous and radiant now. She had not gained much weight although he wondered if she was as graceful and slender as she had been when they had done the deed… he wasn't sure… She gave a start as she saw him, her violet blue eyes wide and shocked, as though she had seen a ghost. Her mouth opened and shut, like a fish out of water.

Anne followed them in at this point. "Nicole, are you alright?" she asked.

Lottie's eyes were very bright as she pointed at Nicole. "See anyone familiar, Mum? Anyone you didn't tell me – tell me about for – for sixteen years?" Her voice trembled with emotion. Jack's insides squirmed. He felt so bad for Nicole at this moment. But it was she who had hidden his daughter from him…

"Jack…" said Nicole weakly. She looked really pale. "I – come in…" she beckoned them all into the front room where they sat down on couches.

"I'll make some tea, shall I?" said Anne brightly.

"Yes dear..." said Nicole, her voice still faint. Anne left the room

Lottie glared at her mother. "You really have some explaining to do, understand? You've got to tell **the rest** of the strange story of the she-mask. Starting from the end of Jack's involvement. He is my father and he still doesn't know."


	5. Chapter 5

**A House of Hell  
**

Nicole was very pale. She gazed at Jack and he steeled himself and folded his arms. It felt wrong not comforting her, but what could he do? Lottie clearly wanted a confrontation to take place and he did not want to go against his daughter's wishes. "I - I..." she said, her voice quivering. She swallowed. "There is no point in lying any more. My dears, you know how we are all a family and my folly. I knew this day would come. I was hoping it would. I don't deserve to hide anything." Her eyes were bright with tears, but she sat up straight. "There is more to the story of the she-mask." Nicole began to tell her story.

* * *

I had to stop work when darling Lottie came along. I couldn't afford rent and I had no relationship. My old boyfriend had already betrayed and left me before I found the Mask. We had to live with my mother at first. Coward that I was, I told no one else, but her of what I had done. That I had taken sexual advantage of a boy. I would carry the Mask with me, concealed about my person to remind myself of my guilt and ensure that it would never be used again. Mum was disappointed of course, but her priorities were to protect her guilty daughter and her blameless grandchild. But I had to get back into work and that is not easy for a single mother who has taken a break from the workplace.

I applied for a position that seemed too good to miss - flexible hours and really good pay and I was granted an interview. But it was in another city, a considerable drive away. I suspected nothing as I left to go to the interview, leaving my little Lottie with mum.

My sense of direction was never very precise, my dears. I took a wrong turn along the way, at Mingleford, after taking directions from an old man with long white hair. Looking back on it I thought I remembered a mischievous glint in his eye. I had been driving for a long time before I realised I was hopelessly lost. Night fell and a storm started up. I kept driving, but it became hard to see anything in the deluge. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning. It illuminated the figure of an old man standing in the road right in front of me. The old man in Mingleford! I swerved and the car careened off the road and into the ditch.

My heart was thumping and I was trembling as I got out of the car and into the pouring rain. I prayed I had not hit him. I looked up and down the road and called out, but there was noone there. But I had been so sure I had seen someone! I searched up and down the road becoming soaked to the skin. My hair was sodden and my dress clung to me. There was noone here. Had I imagined it? With my weird experience as the she-mask, I might be starting to go mad... I got back into the car and tried to start it, but the engine was dead. In those days I didn't have a mobile phone. What was I going to do? The car was parked firmly in the ditch. It had been miles since I had passed the last house.

As if in answer to my thoughts, a light flickered in the distance. I got out of the car and into the rain again. Across the ditch was a long, winding drive, leading up to a curious ramshackle old house. What luck! Or so I thought...

I hurried up the drive, realising how awkward and impractical my high heels were. The drive needed a small fortune in repairs. There was a light shining through the window on the first floor of the house. It was not an electric light. Rather, the glow of an oil lamp. Close to the house was in a shocking state of disrepair. Parts appeared to be literally falling off. I climbed the creaking steps to the front porch, glad to be out of the rain. I knew that the owner of the house would not thank me for waking them up at this hour - five minutes to midnight - but I had to get to a telephone if I was to call a garage.

I tugged on the old fashioned bell pull and a deep gong sounded from within the house. A few moments later the door opened and a tall middle-aged fellow stood before me looking at me with disapproval. "Yes?" he said frowning at me.

He listened, his long face solemn, as I gabbled on in my nervousness. I explained my predicament, how I was lost and how my car had broken down. "Come in," he said, "the Master is expecting you. Follow!"

He led me into the reception hall and told me to sit and wait for the Master. I sat in a solid carved chair and looked around. The reception hall was not what I expected from the dilapidated exterior of the house. It was elegantly decorated with tapestries and fine oak panels. A number of portraits lined the walls. A sturdy sixteenth-century table was set against one wall and there was an array of paintings. I take an interest in art, as you know. I stood to examine the portraits and whether they were genuine antiques. The first painting was of a beautiful young woman with long dark hair, wearing a fine white dress and a tiara. A plaque beneath read "Lady Bethany of Danvers: 1802 to 1824." I was sure it was genuine. I admired how well the painted had captured her beauty and wondered why this lady of an aristocratic household had died so young. As I stared at how the painting showed up the fine contours of her face, I blinked and looked again. Were her lips moving?

A whisper reached my ears and I leaned closer. I could hear the soft voice of a girl with a refined accent calling my name: "Nicole, Nicole, beware of this place, for it is cursed. Many have succumbed to the horrors that lie within, myself included. The evil Lord Kilnor is already plotting your death. Drink not his red wine. Or if you still can, escape while you may." A cold prickle ran down my spine. I knew of course that the supernatural was very real and ghosts, witches and succubae really existed. I had even been one myself. What sort of place was this? Was Bethany communicating to me from beyond the grave or was it that I was really going mad, as I feared?

Footsteps! I hastily sat down in my chair again.

The fellow who had opened the door for me walked in, this time accompanied by a large and imposing man dressed in a blood red smoking jacked. His black hair was slicked down and his piercing dark eyes seemed to stab right into me as he towered above me, smiling an icy smile. The servant announced: "May I present Lord Kilnor, the Earl of Drumer?"

I hastily got to my feet and curtseyed. I was wishing I could be back at home cuddling my darling Lottie. Lord Kilnor crushed my hand in his and I tried not to wince. He drew back his lips to reveal his teeth, which were very white and even, but looked strangely sharp.

"There will be no need to speak." His cold voice resonated deeply. "I can see you have been caught in the filthy storm. Come into my parlour, please do. We can sit by the fire and soon you will find all your cares are ended forever. Franklins!" He snapped at the butler. "Order the cook to prepare some food for our guest and step on it."

"At once Master," said Franklins gulping and he hurried away. I protested that I did not want to be any trouble, but the Earl ignored me. He stalked into the drawing room and I trotted after him. A fire was burning under the ornate mantelpiece. The warmth of the fire washed over me. I sat down and hastened to explain myself.

"I thank you so much for your gracious hospitality, my Lord," I said, brushing my sodden hair away from my face, "I desperately need to get to a job interview tomorrow morning." His cold eyes bored into me. He had not sat, but was towering over me. "I am an art teacher," I stammered "and a single mum, so it's a unique opportunity for me to be likely to get a-another job."

"Our phone lines have come down in the storm," said the Earl abruptly, "but you can stay for the night... and maybe a bite? Ah, here is Franklins now."

The butler had returned and announced that the meal was ready. Well that had been very quick. It should have been obvious to me then that I had been expected.

The Earl strode to the dining room and I hastened to follow him. The dining room looked magnificent. A long table strechted between two fine chairs and was laid with gleaming silver cutlery. A rich red wallpaper covered the walls and the room was lit by a sparkling chandelier, bristling with candles, which hung from the ceiling.

I sat down and the Earl finally sat down as well. The butler moved behind me to offer wine. I remembered Beth's whispered warning from the portrait. Well... whether or not I was going mad, I would take no further chances. "White wine," I squeaked.

The wine was dry and light, obviously a very expensive vintage. Franklins brought in a rack of lamb. I ate my fill. No point going hungry. At that point I just wanted to feel more at ease and tried to get the Earl talking. "You have a wonderful collection of paintings," I told him, "Bethany's painting is most remarkable."

"Ah, she died amid strange circumstances," said the Earl with relish, "the story goes that she was found in a clearing not far from here with strange marks on her throat. Strange, no?"

I shuddered. "Strange," I agreed.

"But of late, there have been unfounded rumours about this house being cursed, so the ignorant farmers have deserted the estate. Nothing in it of course. Now you must be tired, for it is well past midnight. Franklins will show you to your room. You will be very pleased here."

Franklins led me up the stairs and into a room with a plaque on the door which read "Apolloyon." The Apollyon room was a richly appointed lady's bedchamber with an ornate foreposter bed and lace curtains that stretched from floor to ceiling. Franklins bade me goodnight and shut the door. I could hear a key grating in the lock.

I was feeling really worried. There was definitely something phoney about all this.

And then I saw her. The shimmering outline of a beautiful young woman with long dark hair, wearing a white bridal gown that had been ripped and torn... there was no mistaking those delicate features. It was Bethany, her spirit form coalescing before me. My heart thudded. There really was a ghost then. The house of Drumer was haunted.

Bethany's dark eyes were wide and anxious. Her ruby lips moved and I heard her soft voice echo once more: "Nicole... thank God I have found you before it is too late. I warned you Nicole. This place is a den of terrible evil. A sect of devil-worshippers have made their lair here, under the leadership of Kilnor, the Earl of Drumer. Could you not sense anything wrong about him?"

"I - yes he is a bit creepy," I replied weakly.

"You have been lured here Nicole. They intend to sacrifice you to the Demons of Hellfire. They have locked their other victims in the cellar ready to be sacrificed. Yesterday they captured a pretty young girl like yourself, a district nurse who came calling. But I can sense that you are not helpless like she is. You have a power the evil ones know not. You can free us all." Suddenly the Mask concealed in my inner pocket seemed to burn. But at that moment there was a dreadful barking close at hand and two ghostly great danes appeared their eyes glowing red.

"They've come for me," cried Beth. Without hesitating, without even thinking about it, I reached into my pocked and drew out the Mask. As the dogs sprang at Beth, I jammed it onto my face.

Yes my dears, I did not want to use it again. But what else could I have done? Just as I had done a year previously, I felt the jolt through my entire being and the mask clenching hard on my skull, agonisingly tight. I whirled around at an impossible speed, tearing down furnishings and curtains... I heard the whimpering of the spectral hounds as they retreated... And then I stood before the mirror, seeing myself as she-mask once more. My head, huge, lurid green and completely bald, my face covered in that thick green rubber. I was back in that tight leather outfit again. It was originally just you and I who knew Jack, but now others were going to as well. The sense of power and unlimited confidence surged through me again. It was intoxicating. Memories of the last time I had been she-mask were very vivid. I felt that I wanted Jack back in my arms, but knew that there were more pressing matters. Bethany hovered beside me. "Welcome back, Lady of the Night," she whispered, "now we really do stand a chance. The minions of Hellfire will not know what hit them."


	6. Chapter 6

**A Demonic Foe**

"Feels sooo good to be back," I purred as I gazed at my reflection. I puckered my dark green lips and blew a kiss at the mirror. I patted the top of my shiny green head. "It's been too long already. Beth darling, do you happen to have a wig I might use?" When I had worn the Mask previously I had not known that I would change back at dawn's first light. I had wondered if I would be stuck in she-mask form forever, but that prospect actually hadn't bothered me. She-mask does not worry about things. She does what she wants.

Bethany cast no reflection. She shook her head and her noir tresses rippled and bounced. "I never had need of wigs."

"No matter, I don't need hair just yet. I will strike fear into our enemies. But first a little spruce up. Got to keep my looks green and elegant." I conjured a small pot of green powder from thin air along with a powder puff. It was just as I remembered. The strange powers I had as she-mask came as easily as a sigh. I only had to think of an object to create it. I did not yet know the limits. I rubbed my shiny green face with the powder puff. "Now come, my poor darling," I concentrated and took hold of Bethany's hand. She gave a little gasp of surprise. As a ghost she presumably hadn't been able to interact with anyone living before, but I could bend the normal rules now. "Mind if I call you Beth? 'My lady' would sound too stiff. We're going to spook these devil-worshippers out together, Beth."

Franklins had locked the door, but it was an ordinary door and an ordinary lock. The idea of it holding against me was laughable. I didn't even have to give it a thought, it just swung open and we swept out onto the landing. My impractical heels were gone. I now had a pair of leather boots and while these had stiletto heels, I pranced along with perfect balance while Bethany floated beside me.

The carpet of the landing was thick and blood red. A horrible colour scheme. The landing was lit by oil lamps, but suddenly these dimmed and I sensed malign intent all around us.

"Do you sense it too, Beth?"

"Most certainly." Beth's echoey voice was grave, her delicate features composed in a solemn expression. "The spirits of evil-doers haunt this place as well."

A shadow appeared before us and coalesced into the form of a decapitated man in Tudor dress with a ruff. He was holding his head which leered at us and dripped blood. Beth gave a little cry, but I was not afraid. Was I not a terror myself?

"Fool girl, who was never a bride and you, you foul witch, you know not your peril," echoed the cracked voice of a man from the decapitated head.

"You know not yours, because you are not ahead of us." I quipped. "You were never the head of this household. You're a head short."

"Nicole..." murmured Beth.

"Alright, let's not loose our heads," I urged as the evil spirit snarled at me. I started forwards and snatched his head from him and flung it into the air. He tried to retrieve his head by his psychic power, but mine was greater and I sent it whirling around the ceiling. On a whim, I conjured a basket ball hoop out of thin air and propelled the ghostly head through it.

"Slam dunk! Would you believe I'm an art teacher not a gym teacher?" Exerting my will power again I crumpled the spook's head and his decapitated body into two little sphere's of light. "Now beat it and never go around scaring people again. My dear Beth is sensitive." I hurled the evil spirit from us, but he was not banished from this plane. There was a malign enchantment on this place that bound the spirits to it. This would have to be looked into.

"There is a greater evil close by, a malign spirit more potent than that one," said Beth, stroking her cheek in an anxious way. "I know, because he ended my life. I believe the wicked Kilnor told you of the rumours."

I could not stand to see her agitated. I put my arms around her and she hugged me back - I could feel her gossamer grip. Her silky hair tickled my smooth green cheek. The surface of the Mask was sensitive although you might not think it.

"We'll get him, don't worry," I breathed.

We turned from the main landing through a side passage and arrived at a door on which there was a gleaming plaque with the words "Abaddon Room." The door swung open before me to reveal a room lit only by a glimmering blood red light. There was a leather armchair facing away from the door and two more doors in the far wall. "The foul spirit is here," whispered Beth, "I cannot enter."

"Fret not, dear Beth, I'll evict that nasty." I stepped over the threshold.

A chilling voice sounded: "so the hapless girl is inquisitive? Perhaps wanting to stay for some, shall we say... amusements?" Suddenly the voice turned sharp. "Wait! That cannot be our visitor, what are you?"

A man reared into view, tall and dark and swathed in a black cape lined with red velvet, his glaring black eyes seeming to gleam red in the bloody light, his lips drawn back to reveal impossibly sharp teeth, like those of a wolf... With my heightened senses I could feel a palpable aura of evil around him.

"She-Mask has guessed what you are," I declared, "your bloodsucking nights are over."

"Slaves! Attack!" Roared the vampire.

One of the doors opposite swung open and a pair of rotting, shambling corpses shuffled forwards, desiccated skin stretched taught over their skulls, eyes lidless and staring, blackened lips drawn back to reveal rotted teeth... Without the Mask, I would have been overwhelmed by that horrible sight, but now I was imbued with unlimited self-confidence.

"An amusement of my own!" I crooned.

I envisioned how much I considered a spiderweb to be a work of art with intricate threads and laces. Silken strands of webbing shot out of my fingertips and ensnared the zombies which collapsed, thrashing in the sticky strands, becoming entangled tighter and tighter.

"Now you know what is at stake!" I said chuckling my low, husky chuckle. And with that I snatched a long wooden stake out of thin air. The point was exceedingly sharp - the very tip whittled down to just one molecule. The head of the stake was shaped to resemble the bald green head of the She-Mask - me - complete with the detail of my broad, toothy grin.

The vampire glared at me with an intense glare. I sensed he was attempting some kind of hypnosis, but I contemptuously waved it away. "You have to get up earlier in the night to try mind games with me." I lunged faster than the human eye could measure and grasped at him as he attempted to disappear. The vampire thrashed in my grip and I willed my body to become iron. Now my grip was literally iron he could not break free and attempted ineffectually to bite me.

"Don't bust your teeth," I urged and held him down and lifted the stake. "Hmm... I get to use one of these..." I plunged the point into his chest, piercing his shrivelled black heart and he gave a blood curdling roar. Instantly, his illusion of himself as a tall and dark man was gone to reveal his batlike undead form which crumbled as I held it down until there was nothing left, but blackened bones. The zombies in the web ceased to struggle. The zombification spell was broken too. The blood red glimmering light went out. I stood and willed a glowing sphere of silvery light into being.

"Come in Beth, it's quite safe," I called.

Beth drifted over the threshold her pale transparent hands clasped. "Thank all the powers of goodness! You have killed the monster. But my spirit cannot rest until the evil spell of this house is ended as well. There are prisoners in the cells beneath the house. We must free them first."

I followed Beth as she floated through the other door in the far wall and down two staircases until we arrived in a dingy, musty smelling bare stone passage which opened out into a wide, bare stone room lined with four cells. One was empty, clearly intended for me, but the other three had occupants. One prisoner was a pretty young woman in a grimy nurse's uniform, with shoulder length blond hair, her cheeks streaked with grime and tears. As we entered she screamed at us, begging to be released. The second cell contained a calm elderly lady who had maintained a sense of quiet dignity even despite her predicament and the third a red headed boy with a strikingly handsome, freckled face that immediately caught my attention. I beamed at him - that wide toothy grin again. I have a weakness for very handsome red headed boys, as you know, but She-Mask does not have any inhibitions about it.

"The witching hour approaches, handsome," I purred, "want to work some magic?"

"Nicole, please focus." Beth was hovering anxiously by my elbow.

"Ah well, I had better get rid of the Devil-Worshippers first," I conceded and snapped my fingers. The cell doors all swung open.

The blond girl rushed forwards, throwing her arms around me and sobbing incoherent thanks. I put an arm round her as the lady and the red headed boy stepped forwards cautiously.

"My thanks to you Miss," said the lady, "we are forever in your debt."

"Aw come on, make it a group hug," I urged and my arms extended to a shocking length as though they were elastic and wrapped around Beth and the three erstwhile prisoners. "How about kissing me as thanks?" I said in a stage whisper to the red headed boy whose freckled cheeks flushed pink and he quickly brushed his lips against my cheek. I grew excited at his touch, but knew there was work to be done. I stood proudly, gazing at them through the eye holes in the Mask. "I am She-Mask and the ethereal lady is the lovely Beth."

"Lilly," said the blond nurse still sniffing.

"Lady Brewster and I thank you."

"Ralph," the red headed boy was still gazing at me in astonishment. With the Mask on I wouldn't win any beauty contest.

"Now to get you out of here while I settle the score with Kilnor-" I declared, but was interrupted by the arrival of four men in red robes with masks of their own - fashioned from the heads of dead goats - who rushed into the stone room brandishing knives. The Lilly gave a shriek and Lady Danvers and Ralph moved to stand behind me.

"Oh go to Hell, devil-worshippers," I said exasperated and immediately transformed into a living whirlwind, tearing about the stone room and knocking the evil cultists down like ninepins. Very soon, the four of them were locked in the cells. "See how you like it."

Beth beckoned. "We must make haste. The Master can only be challenged in the Red Room, to symbolise a battle taking place in Hell, but we must get these three out of the way first."

I linked arms with Ralph as Beth led the way along the damp stone passageways, Lilly and Lady Danvers following.

"This is not really my kind of scene," I whispered huskily to Ralph, "the devil-worshippers are creeps. I can tell it's not your scene either, Ralph dear. If you were wondering how to thank me properly, don't worry - we can go somewhere private when all this is over."

"She-Mask - you are - you are a super-heroine?" said Ralph gazing at me, his green eyes wide.

"Yes and you can be my side-kick. Beth is sweet and all, but I crave male company - of the right sort."

We reached a flight of worn, stone steps and followed Beth up to the ground floor. Back by the front door. I pointed at Beth's portrait. "You are as beautiful as your painting, sweetie. You would be an excellent art class model. When this is all over, that could be a way you can thank me." I turned to the others. "Isn't she beautiful, like an oil painting?"

"Indeed," said Lady Brewster gravely.

"She is," said Lilly sniffling.

"Absolutely," said Ralph.

"Well she is a beauty who catches your attention," I said, but I could not conceal my feelings. She-Mask wears her innermost desires on my sleeve and now tears sprang to my eyes.

"Nicole is beautiful too and she can show you later, but now we must focus," said Beth and glided over to the front door. Of course I had to focus on the task at hand. The door was probably locked, but that never stopped She-Mask... When I grasped the handle I felt an electric shock - the door was boobytrapped to prevent escape, but of course it could not work against me any more. "Feels like a tickle," I observed and pushed the door open without effort.

A devil-worshipper stood in the front porch, his mask fashioned from the head of a dead goat dripped animal blood and the dead eyes stared vacantly upwards.

Lilly screamed again, but I knew I could handle things. "I have one Hell of a fist," I boasted and gave him such a punch that he reeled and fell. In a trice, I had tied him up with more gossamer strands. I ushered my friends out onto the drive and led them away from the house, into the seclusion of an old copse.

"Look after them," I told lady Danvers and sped back to the horrible house in whirlwind form, Beth gliding alongside me, through the front door and then to the door of the dining room.

"This can only be the Red Room. I remember the horrible decor," I mused, "offensive to any artist."

"Indeed," said Beth gravely, "the Master can only be summoned to this room."

The door was locked but I kicked it open and rang the bell on the wall. "If Kilnor doesn't come quick, I'll find him and drag him here."

Two minutes later, Franklins the Butler came hurrying into the room and gave a start at the sight of us.

"I - I-" he stammered, glancing wildly from me to Beth. What a sight we must have presented!

"Don't repeat an alphabetical letter at me, old boy," I said sternly, "I got enough nonsense from my students. Fetch Kilnor now."

He nodded. "Right away, Miss" and then hurried off.

Ten minutes later Kilnor stormed in. His cold eyes registered astonishment for a split second.

"What manner of sorcerous trickery is this? No lowly succubus is welcome here. I prepare the way for the demons of Hellfire!"

"On the contrary, this sexy succubus will stop your sick schemes." The Earl pulled a knife with a skull shaped handle and brandished it, but I conjured more webbing and wrapped it around him, trussing him up like a turkey. Franklins backed into a corner.

"Franklins! Move in Man!" Screamed Kilnor as he lay bound on the floor. "Step up and attack!"

Franklins shook his head. Obviously he was not the aggressive type.

"Why you could be as smart as Jeeves," I told him nodding in approval. "Wait..." I sensed something wrong. An aura of terrible evil wrapped itself around Franklins... Beth gave a little cry and Franklins began to yell...

Steam billowed around him as his human shell dissolved. Horns cracked through his skull, his form grew and distorted. Now the horror that stood before me was a true demon with scaly red skin and a gaping maw with jagged fangs. Its terrible eyes glimmered with a baleful light.

"Hail, your infernal eminence," called the Earl from the floor.

"Oh Nicole... the Earl is not the Master... this is the Master!" whispered Beth. "You summoned Franklins, you didn't summon the Earl directly."

"I'll handle it, but keep well back," I urged and spun into a living whirlwind again, casting bolts of lightning at the horror with all the force I could muster. But it appeared to have no effect.

The demon breathed a gout of fire at me, but I willed myself to transmute into an indestructible crystal and my body became hard and gleaming white. The fires were deflected away from my crystalline form and then I willed my forearms to morph into machine guns and sprayed the horror with a hail of bullets. These had no effect either and it charged me down with terrible force, knocking me to the floor and trampling me with its cloven hooves, even though I was struggling through an effort of will to get back on my feet. For once, She-Mask could not do exactly as she wished.

"Your toys are useless against the infernal Master," gloated the irrepressible Earl, still on the floor.

I willed my crystalline form to sprout sharp spikes, but the demon merely bellowed and continued to trample me, frustrated that I would not crack.

"Nicole, the only weapon I know of that can slay a demon is an angelic sword, but can you conjure one?" cried Beth from across the room.

I had seen a painting of such a thing... the painting of an angel who guided a skilled weaponsmith in fashioning a sword from Earthly metals that would be potent enough to smite a demon... I had admired the fine brushstrokes that appeared to make the blade gleam with an icy white shine like pure platinum... I envisioned it now as I had when I admired the artwork and wondered how I could paint something similar. And low and behold, I now held such a blad in my crystalline grasp. I struck at the fiend's leg and pierced the sinews behind its mighty knee. It bellowed and stumbled and I got to my feet. It tried to lunge at me, but swifter than the eye could see, I dodged and then as it tried to clutch me with its talons, I drove the point of that sword into its foul, black heart.

The demon bellowed and flailed as the killing blow struck, knocking the chandelier, causing candles to fall everywhere.

"NOO!" yelled Kilnor, but I knew we had to get out of there... The demon's carcass burst into flames that could not be stopped and the fire was spreading. How fitting that this terrible place would be purged with hellfire. I grabbed Kilnor and beckoned to Beth to follow.

Smoke was billowing from the Red Room as we left through the front door. We sped over to the copse where Lilly, Ralph and Lady Brewster all waited and I dumped Kilnor onto the ground. Lilly and Ralph stared wide eyed, but Lady Brewster gave a nod of satisfaction.

"The Master... defeated... what does it mean...?" he gibbered.

"It means you can work it out for yourself, in jail," I growled. I conjured a mobile phone out of thin air and handed it to Lady Danvers to make a call to the police.

Soon the House of Drumer would be beyond rescue. But there was one matter that was troubling me... "Ralph... do you think I'm beautiful...?" I pulled at the huge, green mask and it shrivelled in my grasp, becoming wood once more. With a gasp I pulled it from my face and stood there panting. I was back in the clothes I had worn the previous day, with those awkward heels. My blond hair was all dishevelled and I felt as exhausted as if I had just run a marathon.

"She-Mask... you really are beautiful," said Ralph. I blushed. I felt awkward for how I had flirted with him.

"A succubus... she'll steal your children..." grated Kilnor. The webbing was still there, binding him fast.

"Oh quieten down, you dreadful man," said Lady Brewster. "This girl is a heroine."

"Listen Ralph, I only put on the Mask tonight because there was no other option. I don't want to do it again. I think we should all be friends, but not super-heroines or sidekicks or anything like that..." As She-Mask I knew I had a weakness for teenaged partners and was resolute that I would not indulge it.

"The curse of Drumer is broken!" said Beth, "now I leave this Earthly plane. Remember me, always..." she glowed with a beautiful blue light and dissolved into a shining sphere which flew upwards to the sky. I felt a painful mixture of joy and sadness as I witness her ascension and was aware of tears sliding down my face. Ralph and Lilly comforted me, but I did not initiate this group hug.

Eventually the police arrived to lead Kilnor away. He ranted about how I was an infernal succubus, but they assumed he was delusional. Lady Brewster rewarded me richly for rescuing her and as you can see, Lottie and I are much better off than we were. Thus ended She-Mask's second story.


	7. Chapter 7

**Night of the Spirit Stalker**

So this was it. Jack was taking his daughter back home... for the first time ever. Her auburn hair rippled and bounced as she trotted along beside him, chatting constantly.

He lived on a council estate where every building had been designed as social housing, although the one bedroom flats in the block he lived in were now all privately owned.

He lived right at the top. "These stairs are steep," he commented as Lottie went ahead of him, her bright hair glinting in the dim electric lighting of the stairwell.

"Good for keeping fit," she agreed.

Lottie beamed as she glanced around the small flat. "Well isn't this nice and tidy?" The floors were indeed all clear and the starlight lamp on the ceiling of the main room lit everything with the faintest silvery glow ... Jack had wondered if the lady who previously owned the flat had been ugly and kept the lighting dim for when she brought home a date.

Jack wasn't sure how to tell her that his mother had visited recently and had demanded that everything be spotless beforehand.

"Listen, I can sleep on the couch tonight and I've got some pink sheets from Primark for the bed. There isn't a lot to do in the flat unless you like reading or surfing the net. I don't keep a TV."

"Who needs TV? We have our art. I've been dreaming about when I would get to show my dad my art. Art is in my blood. Supernatural art is in my blood."

Well yes. Knowing who her mother was, Jack had to agree.

Lottie opened her case and removed a carved wooden mask. Jack peered at it, but it was not the Mask.

"I was trying to recreate it, but no success yet. Don't I have the right to be able to turn my face green?" Lottie stroked her long red hair pensively. Jack wasn't entirely sure how to respond. Lottie laid her hand on his arm gently, as she did now when she wanted to reassure him. "It's part of finding myself, dad. You are my father, but is my mother Mum, or the She-Mask? Mum gave birth to me, but She-Mask conceived me."

"I wish I could answer," said Jack. He had been an outsider for his daughter's whole life. But they would live together and he would grow to understand her. He noticed that her suitcases also contained sketches.

"I'm glad to see Nicole's been teaching you her art – she shouldn't stint on that," he said, glad to change the subject.

"Like them?" Lottie picked up one of the sketches. It was a remarkably detailed and 3D looking depiction of an ugly marionette with wide eyes. The marionette depicted had been carved to resemble a young character – a mere boy. "This is pirate Pugsley." Lottie stroked her cheek pensively as Jack himself tended to do when deep in thought. "This all requires some explanation. When I was little I watched a puppet show called Pirate Place about a little girl named Jenny who went to the shore and was friends with pirates – especially the cowardly pirate Pugsley."

"So he was a buffoon of a pirate, like Captain Pugwash?" suggested Jack.

"Yes, but the show was creepy… Pugsley's ship, the Laughing Clown, had a huge clown face and it would tell Pugsley in a weird booming voice "you have to go _inside_ ," like when he was too afraid to go into a cave to find treasure." Lottie tried to make her voice sound gruff when mimicking this ship, but girls are never very good at that.

"Hmm. Odd."

"And then it took a really dark turn. The villain in the first episode had been another puppet called Billy the Baddie, but in the second episode he conjured up a demon called "the Spirit Stalker." The Spirit Stalker marionette was a skeleton with huge glassy eyes which stared straight at the camera and threatened to summon other followers of Hellfire and in his grinding voice he chanted: "down in the cove where no one can ever reach, they'll find your remains scattered on the beach." At that point Mum came and asked why I was watching static. She couldn't see anything on the screen. She got agitated when I tried to tell her what was on the screen. She unplugged the TV and wouldn't allow one in the house anymore. She was white as a sheet and trembling."

"It sounds like something supernatural," said Jack, "I wonder why only you could see it. Perhaps you have She-Mask vision."

"Perhaps," said Lottie with a small smile. She held up the sketch. "And this is Pugsley as I knew him. Puppet or weird vision, whichever he really was."

That evening they went for fish and chips at the chip shop across the road – Jack couldn't actually cook. As they ate, Jack's computer, which remained switched on, began to make a weird buzzing noise. Lottie looked up startled and brushed her hair away from her face, gazing at the screen. "Would you believe it? It's Pugsley!" Jack looked at the screen, but saw nothing apart from the screensaver. Lottie started forwards and grabbed at the screen and Jack gave a start as she dragged a marionette clean from the machine!

It was an ugly and dirty marionette and appeared to have been cobbled together from bits of broken dolls. "Lottie old pal," it squeaked in a grating, high pitched voice, "so good to see you again and to see the woman you've become. But I'm very afraid…"

"What's new, Pugsley?" Giggled Lottie, "so good you haven't changed."

It was just as well that Jack had had an intimate encounter with the supernatural before. Seeing Pugsley didn't startle him in the least.

"Meet my dad, Pugsley," said Lottie, beaming and gesturing towards Jack.

"Good to see you, sir," said Pugsley, doing a funny little curtsey, "but we are all in the gravest danger; the Spirit Stalker has arisen and brought other minions of Hellfire with him."

"What?" Lottie turned pale.

"I have tried to communicate with you before, Lottie. You can get your mother to save us."

* * *

The Spirit Stalker had indeed risen that night.

In a dark sub basement on the estate, ghostly glowing bones materialised, hurtling themselves together to form the a skeleton with terrible ghostly eyes. "Arisssse Disciplesss of Hellfire!" From the shadows, they materialised. "Dissccciple Fear…" hissed the Spirit Stalker. The shadows around coalesced to form the outline of a man dressed in black armour with a long black cape. "Dissciple Fire…" infernal flames erupted in the dark stone chamber, forming the outline of a skeleton that burned with ethereal flame and wielded a red hot trident. "Dissciple Mortissss…" More bones hurtled together, these ones the sickly grey hue of decay, to form a giant rat skeleton.

"Tonight we rissssse," hissed the Spirit Stalker. "We rissssssse… to bring about the end of all things mortal."

* * *

In one of the communal areas a party to celebrate the blocks anniversary was taking place. It was a lukewarm affair thus far. Brenda, the unofficial head of the block was trying to encourage the other attendees to make an effort. But then the door was flung open.

"A gatecrasher?" she wondered aloud.

But there was a glowing skeleton silhouetted in the doorway.

"Greetingssssss," hissed the Spirit Stalker. "Your crime isss life… the ssentenccce iss death!"

At that he reached out for Brenda and his ghostly claws seemed to phase through her. She gave a little cry and then her eyes rolled upwards as her heart stopped and she slid limply to the ground.

"Run!" screamed a resident.

"You cannot run, mortal," hissed Mortis, appearing beside him. The grotesque rat skeleton tore into him with filthy talons and his body rotted and putrefied there and then, the eyeballs shrivelling, the flesh desiccating around the skull in mere moments.

The crowd of party goers rushed for the door, but as they stampeded out, a skeleton blazing with ethereal fire appeared wielding a trident. "You cannot run mortalsss… you cannot hide!" he hissed and pointing his trident at the oncoming masses, shot balls of burning flame at them.

"There was a straggler left behind who was not incinerated. He lolled against the wall, so inebriated he could barely stand. "Thissh party's going with a bang. Isn't that right?" He turned to the man beside him, a shadowy figure all in black armour with a black helmet complete with visor.

The armoured figure gripped his shoulders. "Gazzze into the facce of Fear!" he hissed and his visor swung open. What the drunk saw when the visor swung aside caused his eyes to bulge and his mouth to open in a silent scream that never came… The fright was too much for him and his heart stopped.

Back in the flat, Lottie picked up the phone and dialled for Nicole. "Come on, pick up…" her voice trembled. "Mum…"

"Lottie, darling, are you alright? Where are you?" Nicole could hear in her daughter's tone that something was wrong.

"In the flat with Jack. You should get around here right away. We've reason to believe we've been visited by more strange minions of Hellfire. And you have dealt with their kind before."

* * *

Before she received this call, Nicole had been reflecting on how Lottie now wanted to live with Jack. She didn't blame Lottie – she was the one at fault… but it was hard to receive such blame from her red headed angel. The one she loved most. A blessing to balance the curse of her having been a succubus. And yet she had wronged her sweet Lottie, never letting her know her father. Not to mention she had wronged Jack as well. Her lips quivered and tears shone in her eyes. And then she received the call from Lottie – Devil Worshippers had invaded Jack's estate and her Lottie was there!

Nicole's blood ran cold, the sour taste of fear in her mouth. "Don't move! I'm coming right away." So it had come to this. In a turmoil of anxiety, her heart fluttering, Nicole took out the Mask. If there were more Devil-Worshippers then there was nothing she could do, but plenty She-Mask could do. There was no help for it. She hastily unlocked the drawer in which the mask lay, fumbling with the keys in a state of near panic and almost dropping them. She picked up the mask and gazed for a split second at the inside of it which appeared to shimmer with opalescent lights of its own. Her heart beat even faster. "Goodbye," she murmured, glancing at her pale reflexion in the mirror and jammed the Mask on her face.

A terrible jolt shocked through her entire body and she felt herself spinning harder and faster until she was sick. The Mask was squeezing her head hard, so hard. It had been painful when she was young and now it was a real strain, the pain and the spinning. But then she felt another jolt and energy coursed through her anew. She had not felt so much energy since her youth. Once again anything was possible, why shouldn't it be? Her inhibitions seemed to melt away. She spun faster and faster and then skidded to a halt.

"Why hellooo…" she purred, grinning at the mirror. Her face whole head was once again smooth, round, bright green and completely bald. Her face was concealed by a very thick layer of green rubber. She was now clad in tight fitting leather armour that showed off all her curves – just as curvy as she had been when she put on the Mask as a mere girl. But there was no time to be lost. Her darling Lottie was in danger. Those foolish Devil-Worshippers never learned not to bring down the wrath of the She-Mask on themselves. Nicole swirled into her whirlwind form and tore across the city, to the estate on the outskirts of London where Jack was, up the stairs and then into the apartment.

Jack and Lottie gave a gasp as she burst into the flat. Jack was older now and he had a few grey hairs, but his face looked as strong and handsome as before, even though his skin was not so lustrous as when he was a boy. But she must remember what she was there for.

Lottie came towards her, eyes wide. "Mum?"

"You can recognise her?" Said Jack in a tone of surprise.

"Of course, I'd recognise my own mother's eyes."

Nicole felt an upsurge of affection for her daughter. She-Mask was always spontaneous. She flung her arms around Lottie and hugged and kissed her. "Mummy's here, everything's safe now." She breathed. Then she grinned over Lottie's shoulder at Jack. "Hey there, hot stuff, it's been too long since we "met.""

Lottie gripped her mother's shoulders, gazing into her eyes. "Listen, Mum, remember that time when I was little and told you I watched a show called Pirate Place and you said it was just static on the screen… well one of the characters was trying to warn me… him, on the floor!"

There was an ugly marionette on the floor. What a kitschy thing, made from broken dolls. Nicole had to tut tut at such bad artistry. With her heightened senses, she could feel a ghostly aura around it.

It twitched and stood.

"Hullo there, little spook," she said subjecting it to her intense gaze, "did you bring the warning."

"Yes, Mistress of the Night. The Spirit Stalker is here and he has brought his three vile lieutenants. They are very close now. Argh! One is here."

"Greetingssssssss"…. That bloodcurdling hiss was a huge man in black armour with a swirling black cape who had appeared in the doorway, his shadow looming over them. "I am Dissciple Fear… you mussst all die."


	8. Chapter 8

**The Night of the She-Mask**

Nicole could sense the fiend's intent. Evil radiated from him very strongly. This was the ghost of an evil-doer who had hated others so much in life that he had found a way to come back in order to re-enact his crimes as a ghost. The undead form he wore was held together by the strength of the spirit's will. And a terrible power emanated from him – probably granted to him by a diabolical force. The ability to instill mortal fear at a glance.

Nicole snapped her fingers and in obedience to her will, blindfolds appeared out of thin air, wrapping themselves around Jack and Lottie's eyes.

Fear's visor swung open. "Gazzzze into the faccccce of Fear, foul succubussssss."

For a split second Nicole stood transfixed at the vision of evil beneath the visor. The gaze of Fear would have overwhelmed any ordinary woman… but She-Mask was no ordinary woman. She shook off the spell. "Gaze into the fist of She-Mask, foul spook!" A metal gauntlet appeared on her right hand and she swung it into Fear's helmet with such terrific force, that she punched clean through the metal. The fiend staggered back. Nicole conjured a flamethrower out of thin air and carefully directing the stream of flame with her will power, doused the terrible figure in black armour, willing a force-field around his undead form so that it compressed and fell to ashes as the flames went out.

A dark shadow arose from the charred remains of Fear. The evil spirit could not be so easily destroyed as his physical form. The spirit form of Fear glided out of the doorway, frantically communicating to his comrades: _"There is a witch of the night here… the vile harridan issss too powerful…"_

"Stay here, my lovelies, and you too little spook, do not follow me – I will face the other horrors!" Nicole ordered them.

"Don't worry, I'm not going after them, the other three are so much stronger than Fear was!" Squeaked Pugsley, diving under the table.

"Wait, Mum, it's too dangerous!" wailed Lottie starting forward, but Jack restrained her, a hand on each shoulder.

With a whoosh, Nicole swirled into a whirlwind and pursued the evil spirit across the estate, following the trail of his vile, twisted thoughts that hung in the air like a putrid stench.

"Mum, don't go, I need you – I love you too much…!"

Lottie's anxious calling after her was balm to Nicole's soul.

* * *

Meanwhile a neighbourhood watch had gathered on the estate's central lawn in response to the arrival of the evil spirits. Mike, one of Jack's neighbours who had been a brigadier, called together the other ex-military personnel – a small group of elderly men who knew how to use guns and issued them with fire arms. Then he stood and boomed in his stentorian voice for the remaining three Dark Disciples to come out of the smouldering ruin of the party hall.

"Surrender and no one need be hurt!" Called Mike.

"What fun would that be, ssssssoldier?" Hissed the Spirit Stalker as he emerged into the night, a glowing skeleton, flanked by the burning bones of Disciple Fire on his right and the livid grey rodent skeleton of Mortis on his left.

The soldiers murmured in terror at the horrifying sight of the spectral skeletons. "Demons… evil spirits…"

Fire lifted a trident and directed a stream of fire at Mike, incinerating him.

The old soldiers fired at the terrible trio of skeletons. The Spirit Stalker plucked a bullet from the air. "That issssss my kind of greeting gift. Sssssomething deadly. But it'sssss not deadly enough!"

The skeletons advanced towards the old men, who fired again, but their bullets had no effect. Fire and Mortis both caused the ground to wither beneath their clawed feet.

"The crime isssss life," hissed the Spirit Stalker, snatching the gun from one of the soldiers, "the ssssentencce iss death!"

"Oh no you don't!" growled a husky female voice, as a sparkling green whirlwind shot up to the lawn, careening into the Spirit Stalker and sending him staggering back.

Nicole ground to a halt, standing between the men and the skeletons, spreading out her arms protectively.

"Are you help, miss?" asked one of them.

"Call me She-Mask. I have beaten their kind before."

"A sssuccubuss?" Hissed the Spirit Stalker.

"Nothing that can withssstand hellfire!" hissed Fire and sent a stream of ethereal flames at Nicole.

But it had no effect, for she had transformed herself into a brilliantly white fireproof crystal, just as she had when fighting the demon in the house of hell all those years ago.

"I bet you're nothing that could withstand concrete!" Nicole raised her shining arms and a barrage of concrete blocks rained down on Fire. Nicole pointed at Mortis and the Spirit Stalker and bolts of blue lighting flashed from her crystalline arms and struck them, sending them reeling back causing rents in their skeletal frames.

"The witch can hurt ussss. We cannot win, we mussst flee, until another time," hissed the Spirit Stalker as Fire, with difficulty unearthed himself from the concrete. The Spirit Stalker drew a circle in the air and a dark hole appeared.

The spirit of Fear arrived and wrapped itself around him. " _Take meeee…._ "

The skeletons leapt through the portal to their own realm, but Nicole knew that she couldn't let them go free or they could return and strike back at any time. She had to finish it now. Quick as lightning she dived through the hole after them.

* * *

The world Nicole arrived in was like a scene from a nightmare. A dark stormy sky, an endless stony beach with rocky cliffs and the constant crashing of the sea… and the whole shore strewn with bones and skulls. It would have been overwhelming to her before she put on the Mask. And even now she felt trepidation. How much stronger would her enemies be on their own turf? With a rising sense of horror she felt the psychic echoes of the dead on the beaches. Victims of the evil spirits now calling to her… _"we didn't deserve to die… help us Nicole…_ " So many of them. It was upsetting.

"Tell me, what can I do?" she asked, her husky She-Mask voice uncharacteristically distressed.

"Down in the cove where no one ever goessss… we'll grind your skin and make it into clothesss!" The hiss was Disciple Mortis. The Spirit Stalker loomed into sight, once more with Fire at his right and Mortis at his left and the foul spirit of Fear hovered about him.

"Are you ssso reckless, witch?" hissed the Spirit Stalker. "Thisss isss our own realm. Here we can crush your mind…"

Nicole reeled as four blasts of pure malevolence struck her. She reverted to her usual She-Mask form, but now she was overwhelmed. In this weird netherworld the foul foursome were so much stronger!

" _Afraid now_?" hissed Fear. " _We can ssssquezzzzzzzzze your ssoul until it bleeds_." Nicole felt as though her mind was trapped within a vice. She fell to her knees as she felt her consciousness beset by their evil clamouring. She tried to think of Lottie, who she loved most of all, concentrating on her daughter's porcelain white face and felt a warm glow of love and her head began to clear. The shades on the beach called to her more strongly as she clutched at the shore strewn with their bones and suddenly she knew what to do. She let their energy flow through her. Their voices now found an outlet, channeling through She-Mask. She looked up, her eyes burning with the fire of countless souls now given a voice through her!

" **Let the four fiends be judged!** "

The Spirit Stalker's jaw dropped and his glassy eyes swiveled about in dismay as the myriad voices beset him.

" **The crime was murder! The sentence is death!** "

 **"Death!"**

The Spirit Stalker's glassy eyes swiveled upwards as he roared and staggered at the force of ten thousand spirits blasting him with psychic bolts. Fire's flames flickered and went out. Mortis trembled, his rodent bones clattering. The spirit of Fear writhed… And then as all four evil spirits were extinguished the undead forms of Fire, Mortis and the Spirit Stalker all crumbled.

The spirits flowing through Nicole spoke to her.

" _Thank you for avenging us. We can now rest in peace. We are sorry for what the strain meant._ "

Nicole stood up. "Sorry dears, I don't follow."

 _"The Mask that empowers you… channeling all that psychic force fused it to your face. You can never take it off."_

Nicole touched her bright green face. "Ah well, I'm a bit green in the cheeks. But I won't lose sight of what's important. I'm glad I realised it. I have my family to go back to."

 _"Then go, before the portal closes. Be safe and happy. Our blessings be upon you."_

Nicole felt uplifted and full of good cheer as the spirits all blessed her and with renewed vigor, she dived back through the portal and onto the grassy lawn on the estate. The residents all exclaimed in wonder as she emerged and did a somersault, landing on her feet. The portal closed behind her.

"I've won, darlings!" She called.

"Three cheers for the She-Mask!" exclaimed one of the soldiers.

As they cheered her, Nicole beamed, her toothy grin splitting her bright green face. At this moment of triumph, the fact that she would always be masked and could never get her old face back did not worry her.


End file.
